STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sarai Sierra was finally close to home again, although she wouldn't be going home.

Overlooking the white casket of his slain wife, Steven Sierra fixed his eyes on the family photos and home movies that were projected onto screens throughout her funeral service on Friday morning.

One family video showed her and her sons, now 9 and 11, bouncing balls in an aisle of a toy store and dashing around. Still pictures served as snap shots into the life of a mom who never seemed to lose her sense of humor and adventure.

"It's very hard to let go," Steven said from the pulpit at Christian Pentecostal Church, as his younger son, Silas, stood at his side. "Sarai made me laugh so very much. And it was the same with me. She would always tell me -- after so many years -- how I still make her laugh. And I guess when you love someone so much you know how to do that."

Hundreds of mourning friends and relatives gathered at the Concord church to pay their respects to this 33-year-old Silver Lake woman, who was fatally bludgeoned in Istanbul, Turkey, while she was wrapping up a solo photography vacation.

Buried Friday afternoon at Silver Mount Cemetery, Silver Lake, she will rest almost adjacent to the apartment building where she and her husband were raising their two young boys.

Many of the photos and videos that were displayed during her funeral were shot in that home, with one intimate movie showing Sierra and her youngest son, Silas, laying in bed together, making silly faces into the camera and laughing.

Silas was silent during the funeral, but spoke briefly about his mom from the pulpit at Thursday's wake. "She was the greatest mom. No one else could be like her. She was my mom," he said. "I wish I was there to protect her and keep her safe from the danger that was around her."

Sarai's passion to explore and photograph historic cultures and picturesque landscapes took her on a two-week long journey to parts of Istanbul, the Netherlands and Germany, ending tragically when she was murdered just days before she was set to fly home. Her father, Dennis Jimenez, had previously recalled waiting patiently at the airport to pick up his daughter on Jan. 22, only to later find out she had gone missing.

During Friday's funeral, Jimenez, overcome with grief, stood up several times and walked outside for some air. His two other children, David and Christina, said a few words about their sister, as their grieving mother, Betsy, looked on.

"I don't know if I could do this," Christina said, crying, as she stepped up to the pulpit. "The bond that we had, it just hurts so much. I'm going to be with you again Sarai, I promise."

Investigators are still searching for the person or persons responsible for her murder, after her body was found on Feb. 2 with extensive trauma to the head, torso and face near remains of ancient city walls in one of Istanbul's more run-down neighborhoods.

On Thursday, The Daily Mail reported that Turkish police determined that her body had been dragged about 100 meters from the spot where she was slain. Police also reportedly found a rock with her blood on it.

Fifty-two DNA samples have been taken, but none matched those found on her body. Turkish media have also reported that officials there are still looking for 34 other people in connection with the case.

At Friday's funeral, Steven expressed his gratitude to friends, family members and strangers for their support. He even thanked the media for getting the word out about his wife, but also addressed the rumors several news outlets have alluded to about his supposed marital strife.

"Unfortunately at this time, it's sad how there's false accusations being thrown out there. It doesn't anger me, it saddens me how insensitive and unprofessional that is," he said, later adding, "I trusted her and she trusted me."